Press Release

A consideration of colour, space, form and meaning is central to our 2015 exhibition. Highlights of our Frieze Masters show include Sir Peter Blake’s 'Joe Louis – Brown Bomber' and 'Salome' – a rare example of surrealist painting by Paul Nash. Painted in 1931, Nash’s title and subject refer to the ban on Oscar Wilde’s play, 'Salome’, which was lifted that year, while its overall meaning remains enigmatic and allusive. Facing the viewer straight on, the frank and characteristic celebrity portrait of boxer Joe Louis, known as "the Brown Bomber", by Britain’s leading British pop artist provides a stark contrast.

Continuing our theme, we will be showing a three important oils by Roger Hilton along with Christopher Wood’s 1928 work 'The Blue Necklace (Portrait of Fosca Munster)', exhibited in his crucial 1938 memorial exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries, and a selection of unseen Ivon Hitchens works from the 1920s and 30s drawn directly from the estate. The meeting of Ceri Richards’ 1949 'Music (Blue & Red Interior)' and William Turnbull’s 1957 'Totemic Figure' with English, French and Celtic antiquities complete this discussion of art’s central and enduring considerations.